“Have you seen Martin? Have you met Martin yet? Did you talk to Martin?”
From the moment I arrived to Ojai everyone, including my then wife, knew that I should get in contact with a musician named Martin Young.
He is an Ojai native who is a successful guitarist having been playing since he was 9. Over the years he developed a stacked resume starting with playing in various bands and producing recordings for local artists. Working with his friend Alan Thornhill, they opened for artists like Taj Mahal, Jackson Brown, and others. He continued his craft and gained experience working with Kenny Loggins, Jimmy Buffet, and toured with country legend Clint Black for 16 years and also played at different televised performances like the Country Music Awards and Good Morning America. For over 50 years he has also been a producer and a well known figure in the Ojai music community.
I met Martin after Jon Paquet, who saw me do sets at Full of Beans Coffee Shop, was adamant I work with him on some music. Once we met, I felt so encourage by Martin's positive comments on my original songs and my hustle for getting gigs. When I started to record the tracks for my project “Mark David - Suspend” I reached to Martin, who engineered the capture of my recorded guitar and vocal tracks for the songs on the album at his cool little spot looking over the Ojai valley.
We met maybe a couple months once a week knocking out guitar tracks and vocals. The vibe was super chill and his care of quality is immpeccable. He had a dog named Tucker who was also always at the sessions.
Martin recorded his gut string guitar for two of the tracks on the album. The Name and Little Ones. The quality of his recorded performance and tone are amazing, just like his amazing sound when he plays live.
Though we were kindred brothers in music immediately, it took a bit to convince Martin to play live with us. But by now, 50 dates in, its all joy and good times.
Martin is an awesome person and is an example of the reason why I enjoy the energy of the people in Ojai. He remains as the perfect "icing on the cake" in the Soul Stingers slow rockin’ band
